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Finally us folks up top get some natural hair love! The Chic and Kinky Expo will be jammed packed with great hair info, nappy+curly hair rockers, product vendors all under one roof! OMG I’m hyperventilating as I type!

Check it!

ChicandKinky.com is presenting its First Natural Hair and Beauty Expo in New York City. This two day mega conference will showcase the hottest trends in natural hair care and beauty. It will serve as the platform that brings industry experts, beauty and natural hair bloggers, hair and beauty product manufacturers and consumers in one inclusive place to discuss, test, blog and purchase what’s hot in the industry.

Here is a break down of the two days, more seminars and details to be announced.

4:00 pm – 6:30 pm Blogger’s Circle Natural Hair and Beauty Bloggers will discuss their experience as a Natural and interact with their loyal reader.

8:00 pm – 1:00 am Hair Fashion Show and Mixer A parade of beautiful women, men and children wearing a variety of natural hair styles and the latest in unique fashions by top designers choreographed with a combination of African drum beats, Neo Soul and Jazz Rhythms.

SUN., APRIL 17, 2011

9:30 am – 11:00 am Professional Workshops Professional workshops for stylist/barbers and students that want to improve their skills and status as total professionals.

Hiya! I try to post once a day, however we are in full swing of holiday at work and it’s getting tres hectic. I thought I would try and get some reviews of some products that I know will have crazy promos for holidays, and hopefully these reviews will aid in you not draining your checking account.

I have been using Miss Jessie’s Curly Buttercreme for a few years now. I started a few years ago during my transition. To this very day it is one of my go to products for moisture. The only caveat is the expense. Lucky for me, usually right around Thanksgiving, Miss Jessies does a buy one get one free event, that goes through December. I stock up, and have product to last me through the entire year.

My bad for the slow up in posts this week….this week has been tres hectic. But I wanted to share a product that I really love. An oldie, but goodie. I actually used this product for quite some time awhile back. But then I left a pratically new bottle at the gym. So two things happened; I couldn’t bring myself to buy myself another bottle with one safe at someone else’s crib, and I went on strike from working out.

So I got an email that Ricky’s was doing 20% off many products and the Kinky Curly Knot Today Leave-In Detangler found it’s way back to me. I got back in from work and proceeded to shampoo my hair, then I left the product (knot today) on my hair while I shaved my legs… So after about 10 minutes I took a wide tooth comb and detangled. I detangled my mane with EASE. Then rinsed most of it out. I left some of it in, to serve the purpose of the actually “leave in”. My only regret is that I didn’t repurchase sooner.

Brutal cold temperatures , and other extreme weather conditions could spell disaster for your hair. Here are some suggestions for keeping your hair healthy and damage free during this upcoming winter.

This first thing that comes to mind is protecting your tresses. Winter coats, scarves and hats, while protecting you from the elements could be breaking your hair. Now, I am hardly suggesting that you go without these items in the name of healthy hair; but here are a few things you can do to stay warm and breakage free.

Line your hats with silk. The silk will provide a smooth, friction free barrier between your hair and the wool, are other materials that snap your hair, due to their rough texture.

Sleep with a satin bonnet and or pillow case. The same idea plays out here. Less friction means less breakage.

While we love the warmth of our homes and tend to kick the heat up several notches, the heat can be very drying. Invest in a humidifier to ensure the air stays moist. You will see a difference in the moisture level of your hair and skin. Humidifier not in the budget? Its all good, take a damp towel hang it from your door knob or ceiling fan.It acts in the same manner as an actual humidifier.

Your regimen. Because the elements become almost more than I can bear (at least here in the Northeast) here is what I do. I am not militant about using sulfate free shampoos, but winters here almost demand them.Sulfate free shampoos are less drying and don’t zap every ounce of moisture out of your hair.

If your hair is prone to breakage or color treated, incorporate a protein treatment into your regimen. Make sure you moisturize your hair, paying extra attention to your ends. Finally, seal with some type of oil. I usually opt for jojoba or coconut oil.

I applied it in the shower right after I shampooed. I let it sit for about 5 minutes. I then proceeded to use my shower comb, section by section and detangle. First thoughts? This detangles like a dream. Second thought, it was on clearance…Does that mean it will be discontinued? You know that’s always how it works! So my mission this week is to go on a duck hunt and track down several tubes of this. I originally found it at the Target in Harlem, and couldn’t find it at the one I went to tonight, here in CT. Have any of you ladies ever tried? What other products from optimum have you ladies used?

Twist out use to be my go to style and way to manage my hair when I transitioned a few years back. Honestly, the only reason I don’t do it more often is due to utter laziness. I do find when I do it, my hair is more manageable and looks more styled. Here are some pictures showing the process. I first shampooed and conditioned, detangling in the shower using a Goody Shower Comb.

Shea Moisture Shampoo and Oyin Honey Hemp Conditioner.

I never fully rinse out the Honey Hemp.

After the shampoo and conditioner, it had some what air dried, I managed to sit on my bed and eat vanilla wafers before starting on my hair. I then started section by section twisting. I never have any rhyme or reason.

Here are the products I used. I first grabbed a section, mist with Oyin Greg Juice, then apply some Oyin whipped pudding (these two are a guarantee for moisture!).

Not sure exactly how many twists I did

Then I finished by applying Hairveda vatika frosting to each twist.

The next morning is below, I sleep with a satin bonnet.

Twists taken down

Viola!

Really all I needed to do is take down, maybe apply some gel, yet I kept touching it. The front ended up getting poofy . Go figure.

If you recall several weeks ago I had a giveaway sponsored by CURLS, one of my readers and fellow blogger Proud Chapina won two products. She was gracious enough to do a review for me and all other interested parties.

From Proud Chapina:

“So on twitter there are so many cool contest and giveaways that when I was told that I won @lipstickfashion Curls giveaway I was excited. I was told I would be getting 2 new items from the Curls for Target line. And in about 2 days after winning, I got a box from Curls. Now I didn’t know anything about this line but was excited to learn that Curls is a line geared to multi ethnic people. Which I happen to be (African American, Guatemalan, Native American, and Japanese). I was sent the blissful lengths kukinut oil elixir and the passion fruit curl control paste. Now I have to say I love love love how good both these smell and I’m also loving the fact that there is no sulfates, silicones, parabens, mineral or petrolatum oils, which are found in so many products. Now I have had time to use both products and I must say I really do like both of them. The passion fruit paste is a very nice soft hold pomade that is not super oily and gives my hair a nice shine and wave. I also like the sweet smell. And I also used the blissful lengths kukinut oil elixir. I used this before I blow dry and press my hair. It gives my hair a great shine and is very light in my hair. Now I haven’t been using it long enough to know if it helps my hair grown. But it does help to keep my hair and scalp moisturize. Now even thou I love these 2 products there is one very big con. Curls for Target is not in every Target. There is a list that shows you where the line can be found. But it’s far and few between for me because all the Targets that sell thus line are no where near me. And I saw that the Targets that carry the line happen to be in areas that have a high population African Americans. Now because I do not live in these areas I can not use the coupon I was sent and also am not able to buy these products that I really do love. It very hard for me to find hair care products that work for me. And this line seems like it could work for me but I will never know 😦 I hope that maybe I’ll be able to get my hands on the full line one day but until then a girl can dream. I hope this mini review helps and I would give this line a 4 out of 5.”

So I was able to finally track the line down while in my recent trip to Maryland.I snagged just one product, review to come.

Saturday came and went. I arrived in Baltimore on Friday evening. We didn’t have set plans, which is perfect because my life is more like a three ring circus most of the time. Saturday was the “Your hair is Awesome” event at Oyin! We picked up Danielle and proceeded to the Exit the Apple store. Upon arrival there were many beautiful heads of hair there, including beauty blogger extraordinaire Erin, of Scandalous Beauty. Me and the homies chatted for awhile, and then littered their counter with our products we were taking home. I did have the chance to talk briefly to the one of the owners, and glowing Mommy to be, Jamyla. She said that they had been in that space for about a year and a half (the shop is open on Saturdays) the rest of the time is dedicated to their HUGE mail order business, which can be found at oyinhandmade as well as naturallycurly.com. The mixtress started making products in 2001 and officially launched the line in 2003. I’d also like to point out that her and her husband are so cute together. 🙂 Here are pictures! Ummm I packed up what I bought before I snapped a pic, so that will come in a seperate post.